Modesty is one of my great virtues, and that is why I am always worried when people praise me too much. I'm starting to become concerned I'll end up like that atheist megalomaniac Nietzsche, whose autobiography Ecce Homo contains such chapter titles as "Why I Am So Wise" and "Why I Write Such Good Books."
This past weekend I debated atheist Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, at the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas. Hitchens is probably America's leading atheist and is widely regarded as unbelief's best debater. Richard Dawkins raves about Hitchens' oratorical prowess. Entering the debate, the odds seemed stacked against me: the organizers warned me that the vast majority of the 1,000 libertarians in the audience would be in Hitchens' camp.
Yet when the debate was finished the moderator called for a vote on "who won the debate." By a show of hands, I did! In order to be magnanimous, I said that what really mattered was how many people were on each side prior to the debate. But Hitchens burst in to say that he would have lost anyway! Later several atheists came up to me and said that although they were rooting for Hitchens, they had voted for me because they felt I had prevailed decisively.
I also spoke at a special luncheon event at FreedomFest. My talk was introduced by atheist Michael Shermer, the eidtor of Skeptic magazine and author of Why Darwin Matters. Shermer commented that with the passing of William F. Buckley, I am one of the leading defenders of conservatism and freedom in America. He also added, "Whatever your beliefs, you should read Dinesh's book What's So Great About Christianity. It is the best defense of Christianity that has ever been published."
In addition to dealing with atheist accolades, I also have to contend with the same from fellow conservatives and Christians. The July-August issue of the American Spectator contains a review of my book written by Matthew Kenefick. With the title, "C.S. Lewis, Move Over," the reivew begins this way: "In his new book What's So Great About Christianity Dinesh D'Souza stakes his claim as one of the great Christian apologists." The review ends thus: "In any case, D'Souza has written a book that both G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis would have appreciated and that perhaps even Billy Graham and Pope Benedict XVI could agree is a masterpiece of modern apologetical writing destined to set the standard for years to come."
With comments like this, I am in serious danger of getting a big head and losing my reputation for self-effacing modesty. I suppose I should take consolation from the fact that I have some vitriolic detractors on this blog. But what credibility do these poor fools have with their unimaginative insults and wishful "Hitchens owned you!" declarations? Then an audience biased in favor of Hitchens votes me the winner and Hitchens himself admits that he lost the debate!
Atheists like to think of themselves as akin to champions of the round earth, confronted by religious ignoramuses who keep insisting that the earth is flat. But is it even conceivable that a round-earth advocate should lose a debate to a flat-earth advocate? To put the question differently, if atheists are truly the party of reason, and believers like me are truly the party of "blind faith," how come reason keeps getting its butt kicked?
Reader Comments ( Page 7 of 22)
91. DIMWIT-MODEST now there is an oxymororn, with the accent on the MORON
Geoff Barker at 3:26AM on Jul 15th 2008
92. Hey dimmwit. Why don't you manifest yourself the god you professs to be and show magnifficence.
Geoff Barker at 3:41AM on Jul 15th 2008
93. Fuck... what to reply to.
Dinesh's latest rhetorical vomit isn't worth anyone's time. You don't call yourself modest and then toot your own horn, and that's not even getting into other posts where he mocks those who disagree with him.
Maya... Flying... lots of people read LotR as allegorical. It isn't. It isn't because Tolkien said, frequently, that it wasn't. They read is as allegorical christianity, or as an allegory of the Allies vrs the Axis. It isn't. Tolkien himself said he utterly despised allegory wherever he smelt it. If you want to read it as an allegorical story, have fun, but realize that it never was written as such.
Now. Big tuna and proving God. Oh boy. Here is what I want you to do. First, define what God is. Give me some kind of concrete definition of what God is. Is god matter? Energy? Something else? What. Next, please give me what preponderance of evidence is needed to prove to your satisfaction that God does not exist. It might help for you to consider just how much evidence you need to convince yourself santa claus and flying reindeer do not exist also.
Well call it there for now. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a better topic to focus on.
Somber at 3:48AM on Jul 15th 2008
94. "Modesty is one of my great virtues, and that is why I am always worried when people praise me too much."
It looks like Dinesh is drunk today.
Read your own blog site DD, you don't get much praise, and I think about half of what you get you send in yourself using pseudonyms.
Even if it does turn out that you're right about God, you're not much more likely to make it to heaven than a Satanist with an attitude like yours.
Ed W. at 7:17AM on Jul 15th 2008
95. All kidding aside about Dinesh's modesty, his juvenile boastfulness is something that's normally lost in adolescence or very early adulthood at the latest. He might seriously want to consider therapy top deal with his obviously arrested emotional development. If his religious beliefs preclude psychotherapy, a long talk with his clergyman might not be a bad idea.
Ed W. at 8:04AM on Jul 15th 2008
96. "Don't read everything you believe."
"Don't believe everything that you think."
"Don't think that you are that voice in your head, as that's just the machine of you mind spewing thoughts for you to get hooked on with belief..."
"The true temptation is faith, for it's easy as you don't need evidence nor proof, just gullibility."
"It takes real work to ride one self of the evil vile daemons summoned by Faith Based Belief in the one Mythical God."
"Do question ALL authority with a critical bent."
"Aim to be free of the evil influences that inevitably arise with faith based belief."
"Faith Based Belief - the required essence for delusion."
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift; that's why it's called the present." (Kung Fu Panda) "Act now. Do it now for now is all there ever is..."
"Never bow down to any god - real or mythical - since that's the point where they fuck you up where the sun don't shine and empty your wallet."
"Worship is for idiots."
"Have a peaceful journey through your one only life in objective reality until it's time to be bug food, or turned to dust."
"We come but once to life and none would be willing to repeat. Make no mistake about it. Live now to the best of your ability without delusions. Find your way to objective reality and in the process be kind and honestly directly ruthlessly and boldly authentic with people by telling them the way it is."
"Words to live by."
"Live long and prosper."
Peter at 8:14AM on Jul 15th 2008
97. You should concede from the start that 'winning' a debate is not about truth or reason or the veracity of an argument, but instead - selling a point. Your car salesman approach has served you well in that respect, thusfar. What other bit of reason or truths would you leave to a show of hands? Would you have the religion you believe in decided by popularity contest? If you're interested in the putting your beliefs to the test, you should open all your main defenses of christianity, god's existence, and so forth to public comment, much like Richard Dawkins does on his site. Good idea? What do you think? Show of hands?
S at 8:15AM on Jul 15th 2008
98. Dinesh,
Perhaps it would aid in your quest to avoid getting a big head to point out that Christianity wasn't your idea;)
But seriously, thanks for your continued front-line defense of the Faith!
Chris at 9:09AM on Jul 15th 2008
99. Like the other commenters said already, DD wrote this article to get things moving. I bet he was just waiting to see how many people came here and wrote about how hypocritical he is. Of course he is, he knew it when he wrote it and now he has 7 pages of comments from people who want to tell him so.
Having said that, I think that a little modesty would have been better expressed by not writing a blog about how modest you are. Since you have given us a topic to start on, I will give a pass. Its better than starting off on how stupid athiests are.
CaptainCack at 8:53AM on Jul 15th 2008
100. Pardon me, for I might be wrong here, but doesn't it sound a lot like he said "I am better than you, and all those other times you have proved me wrong, I let you win"? While it is true that neither side of this debate has iron-clad proof the other is wrong, Christians always fall back on their Holier-than-thou attitude, and if us heathens should disagree, then we are just unlightened and don't know any better. If it is indeed true that a roomful of athiests declared you the winner in a debate, then it just goes to show that we non-believers can admit to being wrong or being out-argued; something I am yet to hear from any Christian.
On a more personal note, and just as a bit of advice: true modesty does not need to point out it is modest, it should be plainly visible to everyone.
Runs With Beer at 9:04PM on Jul 15th 2008
101. Never expected to see this title. Actually, it's perfectly within his character to brag about his modesty.
Mokele Mbembe at 9:09AM on Jul 15th 2008
102. Peter,
Actually, I think Nimoy took "Live long and prosper" and the hand gesture from Judaism. The hand gesture is a one-handed version of a Kohen blessing.
Mokele Mbembe at 9:15AM on Jul 15th 2008
103. DD: "But is it even conceivable that a round-earth advocate should lose a debate to a flat-earth advocate? To put the question differently, if atheists are truly the party of reason, and believers like me are truly the party of "blind faith," how come reason keeps getting its butt kicked?"
Didn't flat-earth advocates win debates for hundreds of years? Didn't Pope Zachary condemn St. Virgilius for believing in a round earth?
I'm just saying...
Ryan Anderson at 9:26AM on Jul 15th 2008
104. Congratulations, Dinesh! If you are ever in Atlanta, let us know. I would love to see you debate. God bless and keep the faith!
janesophie1 at 9:33AM on Jul 15th 2008
105. DD: "But is it even conceivable that a round-earth advocate should lose a debate to a flat-earth advocate?"
I think this says it all. DD believes that only those on the side of the truth are capable of winning a debate.
That's why I disliked debate class so much in high school. You have these nerdy kids who win a debate, and then turn around and argue the other side and because they they know the proper forms and styles, they can win that side too. It always seemed pointless to me. Honest dialog always seemed to work much better at arriving at truth.
Ryan Anderson at 9:48AM on Jul 15th 2008